Patiently
by Davner
Summary: He promised he'd wait for her. Now, eight years later, an unbalanced Keiichi Morisato is about to meet his destiny.
1. Chapter 1

Introduction: Okay, I lied. Well, not really. I really did intend to leave the fic world for good, and for a month or so, I did. The problem was that fic writing acted as a de-stresser in my life. I went thirty days without writing a thing, and I hated it. The moment I decided to get back into it, I started feeling better. When I dragged out this old, incomplete fic, and started adding a scene here and there, I slept better than I had in weeks. Am I a hypocrite? Hell, I've known that for years. The end result, however, is this: It's back to the fic mines for me.

Premise: This fic came from the events in Episode 13 of the first television season, Skuld's debut. In that episode, Skuld tells Belldandy she has to return to Heaven or else the bug situation will continue to deteriorate, putting Keiichi's life in danger. In the episode, Belldandy prepares to leave, with Keiichi promising to wait for her to return, but Skuld intervenes and saves the day with one of her inventions.

So what would have happened if they really did leave?

Disclaimer: AMG was created by Kosuke Fujishima. I own nothing here but the clothes on my back. The song listed in part one is "Mexican Moon" by Concrete Blonde. Tricia Takanawa is a Family Guy character. And "Tribute" in part two belongs to Tenacious D.

Dedication: To WillZ, who never lost faith in the idea that I would totally fail to really start my novel and come crawling back to fanfiction eventually.

_**Patiently**_

"I'll wait for you."

She held desperately to those words, that promise, like a lifeline as she stepped into the mirror at the temple and reappeared a moment later at the Goddess Help Line offices in Heaven. Her sisters appeared a moment later, Skuld practically bouncing in happiness at having her sister home. Urd appeared more somber. Like Belldandy, she knew the moment they appeared there, the clock started ticking.

For every brief second that passed in Heaven, hours, even days flew by on Earth.

"It shouldn't take long," Urd assured her, already at a divine terminal and punching in data. "Just adjust some of this code and..."

She broke off, her brow furrowing at what she saw.

"What is it?" Belldandy asked.

"This... Oh, no," she muttered. "No, no, no, NO! Come on!" She hit the keyboard.

"Neesan?"

Urd put her hands on her hips and chewed her lip, not sure how she was going to break this. "Belldandy," she finally began without turning to her. "The problem isn't in one or two lines of code. The damage is systemic."

She finally turned, her face a mask of sympathy.

"It's going to take going through your code line by line and fixing one or two digits apiece," she said.

Skuld was the first to grasp onto what this meant. "But... there are millions of lines of code! It'll take all three of us two weeks to do that!"

Belldandy's legs threatened to fail beneath her, and she quickly found a seat. "Two weeks here," she whispered hauntingly. "How... How long on Earth?"

Urd swallowed and just blurted it out.

"Eight years... at least."

888

_Eight years later..._

"Keiichi san!"

She literally exploded out of the mirror, landing nimbly on her feet and throwing the bathroom door open. "Keiichi san!"

Rushing into the kitchen, she was brought up short by the sight of an elderly priest sitting at the dinner table eating a bowl of rice, the chopsticks in his hand frozen in shock at the sight of her.

"Gomen," Belldandy said, her hand going to her face. "I..."

"Belldandy!? Did you find him?!"

Urd appeared at the hallway to the living room followed by Skuld a few moments afterward.

"No," Belldandy replied. "I was just about..."

"Excuse me," the priest broke in. "But who are you and what are you doing here?"

The goddess bowed low. "Gomen," she said again. "I'm looking for someone who lives here. Keiichi Morisato. Do you know where I might find him?"

"Don't know any priests named Morisato," he told her.

"He's not a priest," Urd told him. "He's a college student, on the short side with bushy eyebrows."

The priest shook his head again. "Sorry. I've lived here for four years and haven't seen anyone like that."

"So he's gone?!" Skuld cried.

"Do you young ladies need help?" the priest asked, his earlier shock giving way to concern.

Belldandy said nothing, shocked that he wasn't here. Looking at it logically, of course he wouldn't be, but a part of her had expected...

Urd stepped into the void. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to let us stay here for a few days while we try to find our friend?"

The priest looked skeptical.

"We'll work, of course!" Skuld threw in. Urd smacked her arm. "OW!"

888

Standing on the roof, Belldandy closed her eyes and put her hand to her ear. She listened through the void.

There.

She could hear it, his heart beating on the very edge of her perception. But it sounded so different, so far away.

"Keiichi san, where are you?" she whispered. She couldn't divine his location.

"Of course not," Urd said as she appeared next to her, answering her unspoken question. "It's been eight years for him, Belldandy. His life and heart have undergone enormous changes since the last time you saw him."

She watched her sister's face fall and hesitated to bring up the next uncomfortable possibility.

"He might have moved on," she whispered sympathetically.

Belldandy took a breath. "If so," she said, putting on a brave face, "If so, then I'll just... I'll go back to Heaven."

Urd heard the dread in her voice. "But what are the odds of that?" Urd asked, putting a smile on. "We just have to figure out where he is. Maybe the college knows?"

Belldandy shook her head. "He would have graduated four years ago."

"Then how?"

Belldandy lowered her hand and opened her eyes. "We just have to have faith that the way will open to us."

8888

Faith didn't take long, as it turned out.

"Hey, check this out!" Skuld called out as the two re-entered the residence.

"What is it?" Urd asked.

The priest tried to crane his head around the goddesses to get a better view of the TV, but the three of them were watching, enthralled by what they saw.

"That's Sayoko san!" Belldandy declared.

Sure enough, Sayoko Mishima was on TV addressing the audience. "Here at Mishima Systems, our workers are building the future of Japan and the world," she announced. "Come be part of the team." The commercial ended with the Mishima logo.

"That's the girl you told me about, right? You think she'd know?" Skuld asked.

"You think she'd tell us if she did?" Urd asked dubiously.

"There's only one way to know for sure," Belldandy told them.

888

"Are you sure you don't want me to go in with you?" Urd asked as she and Belldandy approached the Mishima Corporation's headquarters building. "She might need... convincing."

"Neesan," Belldandy began diplomatically. "The last time you saw her, you electrocuted her."

"Just a little," Urd defended. She sighed. "Okay, I'll be in the lobby. But if she doesn't cough up some info, I'm going up there after her."

The younger goddess sighed and stepped into the building. Dark marble columns lined the lobby way, and several men and women in dark suits walked to and fro. She found a computer directory and found where Sayoko worked. Stepping into the elevator, she tried to keep her expectations in check. The most she could hope for was that Sayoko and Keiichi had stayed in touch and the woman knew where he was. The worst she could come up with was a wedding picture featuring the two of them on Sayoko's desk and a ring on her finger.

The elevator rumbled a bit on its tracks as she thought this.

With a ding, the doors opened and Belldandy walked down the hallway toward the Marketing and Recruiting office.

A man sat at the secretary's desk and looked up at her arrival. "Name?" he asked.

"Belldandy," she replied cheerfully.

"And you are here to see..." He trailed off as he scanned a list.

"Ms. Sayoko Mishima."

"You're not on the list," he told her. "Did you make an appointment?"

"No, but it's very important," she told him. "If you could please just let her know I'm here."

The man looked bored as he picked up the phone and dialed the intercom number. He passed her a clipboard so she could sign in. "Ms. Mishima, there's a woman here to see you... No, she doesn't have an appointment... It's a Ms. Belldandy..." He trailed off for a moment, then eyed her with puzzlement. "Yes, Ma'am. Right away, Ma'am."

He hung up.

"You can go right in."

888

Sayoko allowed herself to grin evilly for a moment before replacing it with a more gentle smile and jumping out of the seat behind the ornate desk that took up a good portion of her office. She put her hands to her face and squealed.

"Belldandy!" Rushing up to the goddess, she hugged her and gave her a kiss on either cheek. "It's been such a long time!" she cried, her voice as sweet as poisoned honey.

"Sayoko san," Belldandy greeted in return. "It's good to see you're doing well."

"Sit down, sit down," the woman urged. Her black dress suit was impeccable and gave her an air of complete authority. "What can I do for you after all these years?"

Belldandy's tone turned serious. "Sayoko san, I'm looking for Keiichi. By chance... have you kept in touch with him? Do you know where he is?"

Sayoko chuckled but said nothing. "My dear Belldandy..." She trailed off and grinned. "Why, it's been eight years since you left him... heartbroken and alone..." She had the sublime thrill of seeing Belldandy's face fall at that last bit. "Of course, it only makes sense that you would reappear now, all things considered."

"What do you mean?" the goddess asked her.

Sayoko laughed again. "Oh, come on," she begged with a grin. "Surely you don't expect me to buy that this is all a coincidence." At Belldandy's blank look, she blinked in surprise. "Surely you know? I'd ask if you've been living under a rock all this time, but even people who live in caves have heard of Keiichi Morisato."

She opened a desk drawer and rooted through its contents for a moment before pulling a magazine out. She tossed on the desk in front of Belldandy.

The goddess looked down and saw Keiichi's face staring back at her. "Keiichi," she whispered, reaching out to touch the paper.

"You can have it," Sayoko told her. "I've read it." She smiled one more time. "Good luck."

888

"'The fastest man alive,'" Urd read the headline on the cover. The two were sitting on a bench in front of the Mishima building. The older goddess flipped the pages until she found the story and read the drop-head. "'With two land speed records under his belt and a wholesome image nearly unheard of in sports, is Keiichi Morisato what the sports world has been looking for?'"

Urd read the article silently as Belldandy stood up and pursued her own thoughts.

The silver-haired goddess shook her head as she read. "'Some would think a motorcycle racer with two speed records and heavily favored to win in the upcoming Osaka Championships would have an ego to match the engine in his bike, but Keiichi Morisato reminds most fans of the faithful kid brother or the boy who helps his elderly neighbor mow the lawn. While most sports figures today have become more known for their dalliances, Morisato has become known as something unique in the modern sports world, a sports figure parents want their children to emulate.'" She shook her head. "Kami sama, this world needs a hero."

She cleared her throat and continued. "'Morisato, the son of a glass blower father and a Mah Jong champion mother, is the modern day Cinderella story, a man who worked his way through college at the Nekomi Institute of Technology to professional racer without losing his humility.'" She skimmed through the article, looking for the salient parts. "'Works with school children,' yadda yadda yadda...'" Finally, she grinned. "Ah! Here we go! This is the part that affects you! 'Morisato is considered one of Japan's most eligible bachelors, attending most parties or charity functions on the arm of his sister, Megumi. This has, of course, led some tabloids to speculate on his sexual orientation; however, when asked, Morisato will only say, 'I'm waiting for someone.'"

Urd looked up at Belldandy's hopeful face. "He hasn't given up," Belldandy breathed. "Did the story say where he is now?"

The elder goddess shook her head. "Only that he's based here in Nekomi." She rose to her feet. "He must practice, so there has to be a track he works on."

"Then let's go!" Belldandy said, a smile across her face for the first time today.

888

Looking through her window, Sayoko watched them walk away and smiled. Yes, she could have told Belldandy exactly where Keiichi was, the Mishima Corporation sponsored Keiichi's race team to the tune of a hundred million yen a year, but why make it easy for her?

Eight years ago, Belldandy had systematically humiliated the queen of Nekomi Tech. When she disappeared, Sayoko had retaken the mantle easily enough, except for still being rebuffed by Keiichi, but it always rankled her that she hadn't won straight out.

Of course, now that she was back...

She sat down at her desk. The thought brought forth a lot of feelings she had left dormant for several years. Her career was an overwhelming success, a vice president in charge of marketing and recruiting. But she was still alone. She had put the thought aside, but the return of the mysterious "goddess of Nekomi Tech" had stirred the competitive juices in her.

And Keiichi was more of a catch now than he could ever have been before.

Perhaps it was time to dust off the old royal scepter and get back in the game.

She pushed the intercom button. "Jiroo," she said. "Call Chihiro down at the race track." She leaned back in her chair and smiled. "Tell her at her convenience, I'd like to see their facilities."

888

"Hurry up!" Megumi Morisato hissed, tossing the helmet to her brother. "They'll be here any minute!"

"I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!" Keiichi Morisato cried with a playful grin.

"I mean it!" Megumi told her sternly. "She's a good friend, and this is very important to her!"

Keiichi mounted the bike and keyed the start-up sequence on the small computer pad. "I get it," he said. He smiled. "I'll do my part, just be sure you do yours." He donned the helmet, and Megumi nodded.

"See you out there in two minutes," she told him as a warning.

Keiichi waved and returned to the start-up. The Mishima Systems SX-3 was the most advanced racing motorcycle on the planet, capable of speeds nearly unheard of on the race circuit. It was a far cry from his old Beemer, which he still rode when not on the track.

He patted the gold symbol that adorned the side of the bike. "Okay, girl," he said. "Showtime."

888

The visiting group was eager, and Megumi checked her watch for the eighth time. She had brought the group to the pit area across the race strip from the main stands. The place was hauntingly quiet when empty.

"Where is he?" one of the visitors asked.

"We want to see him!"

Megumi took a breath and said her lines. "Unfortunately, I just got a call from him," she said. "He just left Osaka a minute ago, and even driving as fast as he can, he won't be able to get here until..."

A moment later, Keiichi's SX-3 flew past the crowd at something close to a hundred and fifty miles per hour.

"...about now," Megumi finished with a smile.

The assembled group of fourth graders cheered and clapped as Keiichi turned the bike back and zipped back toward them. As he approached, he pulled the handlebars and brought the front wheel up in a wheelie.

As the kids cheered, Megumi stepped over to the only other adult there, the kids' teacher. The dark haired woman adjusted her glasses before clapping again.

Keiichi brought the wheel down and came to a stop in front of the group. Pulling off his helmet, he smiled to the kids. "Hey there!" he greeted.

While the children bombarded him with questions, the teacher turned to his sister. "Thank you again for this, Megumi. The kids all love him."

"It's no problem, Kasumi, really," Megumi reassured her. "Kei chan loves this kind of stuff." Looking back up, she found that Keiichi had pulled one of the boys on the seat in front of him.

"Yes, but I know how busy you all must be with the race in a week," Kasumi Matsuhara told her.

Megumi smiled. "Like I said, don't worry about it." She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey, kids! Let's go inside, and we'll show you what makes the Wind Goddess go!"

888

"This, children, is a model of the F-121 engine that makes the SX-3 so fast," Tamiya rumbled. The kids seemed a little wary of the large man, but the engineer went on anyway. "It uses an advanced carburetor and..." As he continued with the technical jargon, some of the kids' eyes started glassing over.

While the larger man put the children to sleep, Megumi pulled Kasumi toward Keiichi, who was dismounting the bike and pulling his helmet off.

"Kasumi, this is my brother, Keiichi," Megumi introduced, giving the young woman a push toward the racer.

"Uh, hi," Keiichi greeted with a bow.

"It's nice to meet you," Kasumi returned.

"I'll let you get acquainted," Megumi said before turning on her heel and starting toward the group of kids again.

"Well," Keiichi whispered sarcastically. "She's not pushy at all."

"I'm sorry?" Kasumi asked.

"Nothing!" the young man replied with a wave. "So, I thought I knew all of Megumi's friends."

"We met about a month ago at the gym," she told him. She walked over to the SX-3, studying carefully, as if afraid it would bite her if she got too close. "A lot of my students are fans and I recognized the name."

"You know about bikes?" he asked, making conversation.

"Oh, heavens no!" Kasumi told him with a smile. "Not the first thing." She went back to examining the racing machine. "What makes this one so special?"

"Well, a lot of things," he told her, glad to be in a realm he understood. "Heads up display interface, computerized throttle and brake control. It's truly a twenty-first century machine."

"Sounds more complicated than it really has to be," she told him.

Keiichi thought for a moment, then stepped forward. "Here," he said. "I'll show you. Hop on."

"I'm sorry?"

"Go ahead," he urged her. "It won't bite."

Kasumi thought it over for a moment, then placed her hands on the handlebars, unsurely hoisting herself on the bike. She tried vainly for a moment to keep her skirt from hiking up past her knee and gave up after two or three tries. Keiichi took a brief look at her leg before turning his attention back to her.

"Now," he began, placing the helmet on her head. "You just put this on..."

"Wait!" she said, quickly removing her glasses. "Okay." The helmet went over her head until only her curious brown eyes could be seen through the open visor.

He reached out and hit a button on the side of the helmet and the eyes disappeared behind a dark visor that rushed down from the top of the helmet.

"See the numbers and readouts on the visor?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. There were several lines of text in computerized green font dancing across the inside of the visor, telling her everything from speed to direction.

"Comes in handy," he told her. "You don't have to look down at the bike during a race. It's all right there." He reached down between the handlebars and keyed the startup sequence.

Kasumi jumped as she felt the bike come to life under her. She laughed nervously. "That's something else!" she said.

Keiichi smiled. "It doesn't feel very powerful," he admitted. "My Beemer shakes and rattles like it's holding back demons, but the lady here will top two hundred miles per hour if you let her. I actually have to make a conscious effort to slow her down."

He saw the visor turn toward him. "What's it like?" she asked.

The racer thought about it for a moment. "It makes me feel free," he admitted.

Kasumi thought on it for a moment before turning her questions to something else. "This symbol," she said, tapping the front of the helmet. "Is it the Morisato crest or something?"

Keiichi regarded the symbol with a touch of pain. The gold circle had seven small strands falling from the bottom at alternating lengths.

"No," he said finally. "It just reminds me of something."

They both turned to the sound of oohs and ahs from nearby. The students were watching in a mixture of jealousy and awe.

Kasumi cleared her throat. "Well... Thank you, Morisato san," she said, unsure what to do next. "If you could..."

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Keiichi keyed the shut down sequence, and the Wind Goddess's quiet hum ebbed away.

Kasumi removed the helmet and handed it to him before allowing the racer to help her off the bike.

888

"So, what do you think?" Megumi asked, nudging him with her elbow as the school bus pulled away. "Not bad, huh?"

Keiichi sighed as he headed back inside. "I thought so," he muttered.

"Oh, come on, Kei chan!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation as she followed him. "She's exactly your type!" She started to tick points off on her fingers. "She's the girly girl type! She's nice! She's smart! She's cute! She COOKS!"

He ignored her.

"She liiiiikes yooooouuu!" she sang.

Nothing.

The woman sighed again. "Look, Kei chan..."

"Why can't you just leave it alone?" he asked her irritably.

"Because you're my brother!" she shot back. Looking both ways down the hallway, she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a vacated office before locking the door behind them. "Look, Kei chan," she started again. "This has to stop."

"That's what I've been saying," he said with a huff.

"No, I mean this... this VIGIL you're standing." She put her hands on her hips and started to pace, looking within for something to say to him. "You're almost thirty, and you've only dated one girl in your entire life, and that is not where you wanted to be when you hit thirty. You wanted a wife and kids by twenty-five." She saw him open his mouth to protest and quickly cut him off. "And don't try to deny that because I read it in your diary before you left for college!" She took a breath, her face softening. "You're lonely," she told him.

"I'm not lonely," he said quietly. "I have everything I need right here."

"No you don't," she said, shaking her head. "You're lonely, and it's leading to depression, and that's leading... somewhere else," she trailed off.

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"Kei chan, we all see it," she said quietly. "At first it was almost like this promise to wait for Belldandy to come back let you concentrate on other things, but as time has gone by..." She looked for the right words, and finally settled for the wrong ones. "You redlined the Goddess six times," she accused him. "Three of those in races you could have easily won without! You're pushing it harder and faster than you should, playing it fast and loose with safety rules, and that was NEVER your way before. The other day you ran the course with an unsafe chain indicator." She nodded at his look of disbelief. "Yeah, I saw it, and so did Chihiro."

She took a step toward him and looked him in the eye. "Kei chan, do you want to die?"

The question was asked without sarcasm or humor. It was a deadly serious question.

"Of course not!" he shot back angrily. "How can you even think something like that!?"

"Because I'm scared for you!" she cried. "Your entire life is in this building! And that is NOT the way it should be! I don't know if you've given up on Belldandy coming back and just don't want to admit it or maybe..." She shrugged. "I don't know! Okay!? All I know is I'm here every day watching my big brother make worse and worse decisions in a job that KILLS people for making the wrong call!"

He closed his eyes and sat down on a nearby chair. "What do you want me to do?" he asked quietly.

She held out a cell phone. "Call Kasumi," she said. "Take her to dinner. Go dancing. Have some fun that doesn't involve motorcycles. Get out of this building," she begged.

"You know I can't do that," he told her.

"Kei chan, it's been eight years," she whispered, kneeling down in front of him so they were eye to eye. "I liked Belldandy! I really did. But she's gone and she's not coming back." She saw him wavering and pressed. "And she was wrong to ask you to wait."

"She didn't ask," he said feebly.

"She also didn't call, write or email," she retorted gruffly. "I guess they don't have stamps in Norway. Hell, I don't know." She took his hand. "Big brother, you've waited longer than any woman has a right to expect. It's time to move on. Just... Just promise me you'll try."

He refused to meet her gaze. "I'll try," he said.

"Promise," she demanded.

"I promise," he said, finally looking at her.

She nodded and stood up. "Her number is in the address book."

888

"And after that, if one of you would take the garbage out, that would be wonderful," the priest, Kensuke Yamada, told them as the three goddesses continued to rake.

The sun was just beginning to go down as he turned away. With a look at the coming twilight, Belldandy put her rake up against a tree and turned to Urd and Skuld. "I have to start dinner," she said. Finding out Keiichi was still in Nekomi and, for the time being at least, still single, had helped Belldandy's looming depression, but there was still a bit of slack in her step as she walked off.

Skuld watched her go and turned to Urd as she continued raking. "Oi, Urd," she began. "Why is Oneesama so hung up on this boy?"

Urd smiled. "Well, you didn't get a chance to get to know him very well, but... well..." She rested on her rake and thought for a moment. She seemed to find an answer and started raking again. "You know how back in Heaven you're always chasing guys away from her with your crackpot inventions?"

"They're not crackpot, and I have no idea what you're talking about!" Skuld sniffed.

"Oh, please!" Urd shot back with an evil grin. "You invented a diamond-toothed chainsaw you named 'Texas Murder' the same day that Greek messenger made a pass at her and offered to demonstrate it on his wings."

"He was a jerk-face," Skuld muttered in reply. "He would've been bad for her."

"Okay, now imagine if it was a guy who would always treat her well, always be kind, always smile for her, do absolutely anything for her and always place her above any other concern in his life."

Skuld paused. "That would be slightly more acceptable," Skuld relented with an arrogant sniff.

"Well, that pretty much describes Keiichi to a tee," Urd told her. "Slightly acceptable."

888

The knife in Belldandy's hand chopped each vegetable at precise intervals without a single flaw. She hadn't cooked once in the last two weeks, and she had missed it. She even found herself smiling for a moment.

Memories of this place swam through her, floating into her mind at random moments. She knew it was hard for Urd and Skuld to understand, but she loved this. For months, she and Keiichi had lived for one another.

For centuries she had gone from person to person, granting their greatest wishes, and she had taken pride and joy from seeing them fulfilled, but it was always a one-way street. When Keiichi had wished for her to remain by him, she knew it could have meant so many different things. She could have been his servant or something demeaning. Instead, he wished for her to become the most integral part of his life.

He had always put her first, saw to her comfort and happiness before his own. She had been sent to grant his wishes, and instead he ended up granting all of hers. And he had never asked for anything in return, though she offered it freely.

And now he was gone, lost.

A tear hit the cutting board below her.

"Are you okay?"

She turned quickly and found Skuld standing there. Quickly wiping her eyes, she turned back to the vegetables. "Yes," she said. "Onions make my eyes water."

Skuld frowned. "Oneesama," she said. "Those are carrots."

Belldandy shut her eyes and put the knife down. "I shouldn't have left," she whispered. "I should have taken the risk and stayed."

"No, Oneesama," Skuld said, hugging her older sister tightly. "This is my fault. If I had done a better job keeping the bugs under control, maybe..."

Belldandy shook her head. "No, Skuld. It was my decision, my responsibility. I knew what the right choice was, but I made the wrong one because I thought it would keep him safe. Now..."

"But we'll find him for you, Oneesama," Skuld promised as she looked up at her sister.

"Yes, we will," Urd said as she entered the kitchen. "First thing tomorrow we'll start checking the race tracks."

Belldandy held out a hand, and Urd stepped forward and joined the hug.

"Thank you."

888

"And of course, this is the garage," Chihiro said, motioning to the incredibly large, cavernous building where various team vehicles were being worked on.

Sayoko nodded as she looked around. "Yes, quite nice," she muttered, not terribly interested. "It's good to see you're making good use of the money we send you."

"We appreciate Mishima's sponsorship very much," Chihiro said diplomatically.

Sayoko smiled. "I'm sure you do." She turned back to the garage. "So where are Keiichi and Megumi today?"

"Keiichi is running some kind of errand, and Megumi is..."

"Megumi is what?"

They turned and found the younger Morisato standing behind them in work coveralls.

"Megumi san!" Sayoko greeted in faux-excitement.

"Sayoko san," Megumi replied, less excited and showing it. She turned to Chihiro. "Chihiro san, you have a call in the front office."

The manager quickly excused herself and left Sayoko and Megumi alone.

"I was hoping to see your brother here today," Sayoko told her. "I wanted to ask him to have lunch, talk about... future opportunities with Mishima."

Megumi smiled. "He's in town today, taking care of some personal business."

"Ah," Sayoko said, her face falling a bit. "Out with her already, huh?"

The crew chief looked at her in shock. "How did you know about that?"

Sayoko shrugged. "She came to my office yesterday and asked if I knew where he was. I told her no. You know I've never been a fan. She can do her own leg work, especially the way she left things."

If Megumi was confused before, she was downright perplexed now. "Wait, how do you know Kasumi?"

The executive turned to her and blinked. "Kasumi? What are you talking about?"

The two stared at each other for a moment. Finally, Sayoko got it. "You don't know, do you?" she whispered.

"Know what?"

Sayoko smiled. "Do you still hate her?"

Megumi's face turned ashen as it fell into place. "No way," she whispered. "No, this is too freaking ironic."

"I take it Keiichi is out with a girl as we speak?" Sayoko asked.

"He's on his way to ask out a friend of mine," Megumi admitted. "You know how he is, it doesn't count if it's over the phone."

The older woman's smile turned gentle. "He's still a hopeless romantic, isn't he?" Her smile dropped a moment later. "Seriously, though, I could take your friend, right?"

Megumi reached for her cell phone and found it missing. "Damn! I need to tell him!"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Sayoko interjected. "Why?"

"Why?!" Megumi repeated. "He's waited for this day for eight years!"

"So, Belldandy comes back from god knows where after eight years without a phone call, and just drops back into his life as if nothing happened... and that's okay with you?" Sayoko asked.

Megumi's retort died in her throat as her conversation with her brother came back to her. After eight years she had finally gotten him to come around. Belldandy's return could undo that, especially if she's dropping by just to visit or, god forbid, break things off permanently.

"She doesn't deserve him," Sayoko told her with some heat.

"He deserves to know," she replied quietly.

"He deserves to not get jerked around," Sayoko bit back. "Look, I'll admit, I've done my share of jerking your brother around back in the day, but..." She shook her head. "If I don't deserve him, then who the hell does? Certainly not her. Let her work for it. If she wants him so bad, she can come find him herself."

"I want to talk to her," Megumi said.

Sayoko snorted. "I bet. I still owe her. I've got a score to settle."

"We've both got scores to settle," Megumi told her seriously. "Do you know where she is?"

"I'm sure I can find out," the executive assured her.

"Let me know, will ya?" Megumi asked.

"What are you going to do about Keiichi?" Sayoko asked.

Megumi turned from her. "My brother has a date tonight. IF I bother him with this, I'll do it in the morning."

888

He found the door open and knocked on the door frame. Kasumi looked up from her desk and smiled. "Morisato san," she greeted. "Please come in."

Keiichi stepped gingerly into the classroom, sweat running down his back. He cleared his throat and stayed near the wall. In an attempt to at least appear nonchalant, he leaned against something, only to send a life-size model of a human skeleton crashing to the floor.

Kasumi arched an eyebrow as she watched bend over and start picking up bones. "You can just leave that," she assured him. "One of my students can put it back together for extra credit after lunch." She noticed his hesitation and asked, "Are you all right, Morisato san?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," he assured her, laughing nervously. "How are you?"

She removed her glasses and stood up, walking out from behind her desk and leaning against the front. "What can I do for you?" she asked.

Keiichi swallowed and tried to fight for some sense of control.

It's just like the pre-race show, he told himself. Just like being on stage. You're not twenty anymore!

"Well," he began. "I was in the neighborhood, and well... You see... There's this charity ball tonight hosted by the Mishimas', the Gabriev Fund for Special Needs Children."

"Yeah, I read about that in the paper," Kasumi said with a smile.

"Well... I just happen to have an extra ticket, and I was wondering... If you weren't busy tonight... Maybe you'd like to come... with me."

The teacher's smile took on an amused glimmer. "You just HAPPEN to have an extra ticket?"

"Yeah."

"To a hundred thousand yen per plate benefit dinner?" she finished.

Keiichi swallowed. "They were on sale," he said in the tone of an admission.

"I'd love to."

"Look, if you're busy, I understan..." He broke off. "Yes?"

She nodded. "It'll be fun," she told him. "When?"

"Um... Pick you up at six?"

"Oh, hamburgers!" she swore. "I have a parent-teacher conference at six." She looked for a solution. "I could meet you there."

"O..Okay," he said. He searched his jacket pocket until he found the ticket and handed it to her. "It's black tie, I hope that's okay."

"I have a black dress," she said.

"Okay," he replied, backing up carefully. "See you then."

Then he bumped into the doorframe and left.

888

"How many racetracks can one town possibly have?!" Urd practically screamed at the map spread out across the table.

Belldandy passed her a cup of tea while Skuld sat in the other room and watched TV.

"Nekomi Tech deals with a lot of auto research," Belldandy told her. "Racing and the things that go along with it are a big part of the economy."

"This is nuts," Urd said, shaking her head.

"GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Skuld's scream put both goddesses into motion, rushing into the living room ready to battle demons. Instead, they found her pointing at the TV.

"What is it, Skuld?" Belldandy asked.

"Just look!"

It was a local news show. A young woman was standing outside a building where several well-dressed people were walking past. In the background a man had pulled an old black motorcycle into the valet parking area and was taking off his helmet.

"Thank you, Diane," the reporter was saying. "The Mishima family hosts the Gabriev Banquet every year, inviting some of Japan's most famous personalities to donate money to special needs children. Oh, excuse me! Morisato san!"

"KEIICHI!" the three goddesses cried.

"I'm Tricia Takanawa with Channel Three with motorcycle racer, Keiichi Morisato. As a repeat guest at the Gabriev Banquet, can you tell me what brings these stars together tonight?"

Keiichi, looking out of place in a tuxedo with his helmet under his arm, cleared his throat nervously. "Well, it's the kids, of course," he said. "I mean, I can't speak for everyone here, but... well," he scratched the back of his head. "Look, we make a lot of money. Now, yeah, I could go out and blow it on a new car or a yacht or something, but what's that going to do for anyone else? Maybe the money we raise here will help wipe out a correctable birth defect. Who knows?"

Takanawa was nodding. "And how does this event work with your training schedule? The Osaka race is in one week."

Keiichi smiled. "Well, there's still plenty to do, but there's plenty of time to drive motorcycles when I'm dead, right?"

With that, Keiichi headed inside. "Um, thank you, Morisato san!" She turned back to the camera. "I'm Tricia Takanawa, outside the Fujisawa Convention Center in Nekomi..."

"Fujisawa Convention Center!" Skuld said, writing it down. "Oneesama, you can be there in a few minutes!"

"Wait!" Urd cried. "You can't go like that!"

"What do you mean?" Belldandy asked, looking down at her simple brown dress.

"It's a black tie event," Urd told her. "This has to be perfect!" She held her arm out as if gesturing to a grand stage. "Keiichi Morisato, alone for eight years, is at a crowded ball, a band is playing romantic music, when suddenly, a part in the crowd reveals the woman he said goodbye to eight years ago!" She looked at Belldandy critically. "Brown isn't going to cut it. Belldandy, SUIT UP!"

888

"Keiichi kun!"

He looked up through the crowd and smiled. "Sayoko!" He saw the vice president waving him toward her table and pushed his way through the people to get to her.

"I'm glad you made it," Sayoko told him. She gestured to an elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair at her table. "You remember my mother, Rosa."

"Of course I do." He leaned down and gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek.

"Keiichi chan," she said with a smile. "I'm so glad you came to this."

"You say that every year as if I'm not going to show up," he told her with a grin.

"Where's Megumi?" the wheelchair-bound woman asked. "Or couldn't she make it?"

"Actually..."

"If not, you can dance with Sayoko chan," she told him slyly. "I'm quite sure she won't mind."

"Okaasan!" Sayoko cried, blushing.

"Actually, I'm meeting someone here," Keiichi said quickly, scratching the back of his head. "She should be here any minute, actually."

888

In an upstairs women's bathroom, one of the mirrors began to shine brilliantly, and the goddess Belldandy floated gracefully to the ground, the hem of her dark blue dress not even touching the floor. Quickly turning to the mirror, she did as Urd told her and made sure her hair and make-up hadn't been disheveled during the trip.

Her sister was right. She wanted this to be perfect.

Dashing out the door, she went in search of Keiichi.

888

"And what are your plans after this race, Keiichi chan?" Rosa asked her.

He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe I'll try cars." The band on stage had started a slow but faintly Latin sounding song when he looked up and saw her.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" he asked quietly as he stood up.

Rosa saw the object of his gaze and smiled. "Of course."

She was standing on the opposite side of the dance floor and caught his eye a moment later. He saw her smile and start across the dance floor toward him. He stepped toward her, intending to meet her in the middle.

_Oh, amigo_

_Here we do things slow,_

_Money, art, a broken heart,_

_Where did you want to go?_

_Senor, por favor,_

_To the Hotel Zona Rosa,_

_What did I come here for?_

They met in the center of the dance floor, and he found himself floored by the sight of her. She noticed this and blushed. She had worn her hair down, and her dress was something she wasn't used to wearing. Without thinking, he offered her his hand.

She tentatively took it, and they started to dance without a word.

"You look great," he breathed.

Kasumi blushed brighter and smiled. "Thank you."

_Oh, senor,_

_I run but the damage has been done,_

_Miles have gone away,_

_And my amore never come_

_I look up at the sky,_

_I am tired and dry,_

_Uno tecate and lime._

_Thinking of you,_

_Underneath the Mexican moonlight,_

_Thinking of you,_

_Underneath the Mexican moon._

888

Up in the balconies, Urd watched Skuld scanning the crowd and shook her head. "Why did you bring a rifle?"

Skuld's eye never left the eyepiece of the phased plasma rifle's scope. "I left my power-binocs in Heaven!" she complained. "This is the only thing I have with a zoom!"

"You left the binocs... but you brought a rifle?"

"Hush! There she is!"

Sure enough, Belldandy was searching the outskirts of the crowd.

"Okay, you found her, but where's Keiichi?"

"Oh, yeah!" Skuld bit out. "Finding one dark-haired guy in a tuxedo among five hundred dark-haired guys in tuxedos is really easy..."

888

Kasumi looked up into his eyes as they danced. Even now there was a pain in them, something she had noticed before, something Megumi had hinted at.

_Senor, you are wise,_

_I can see a million years,_

_A million tears behind your eyes._

_Take me home._

_Take me to the Zona Rosa,_

_Mariachis and tequila,_

_I will dance the night alone._

"Thank you for inviting me," she told him, a safe thing to say, she decided. "It's been a long time since I've been dancing."

_Just some time,_

_Just a little kiss of mine,_

_Take me where I can forget, senor,_

_You are so very kind..._

Keiichi barely heard her. He was exulting in the feelings he hadn't felt in eight years, sensations he had not even known he had missed. The feel of the teacher's hand in his, the smell of her perfume, the warmth of her body felt through the hand on her back. For eight years, he had lived like a monk and didn't realize how much he had hated it until this moment.

_I look up at the sky,_

_I am tired and dry,_

_Dos tecate and lime,_

_Thinking of you,_

_Underneath the Mexican moonlight._

_Thinking of you,_

_Underneath the Mexican moon._

888

Belldandy saw Sayoko and was about to walk over and ask where Keiichi was when she saw him out on the dance floor.

"Keiichi san," she breathed. She saw him turn, saw the woman he was holding come into her view. She shook her head.

888

"Uh oh..." Skuld muttered.

"What?" Urd asked. "What do you mean, uh oh?"

"I mean 'uh oh,'" Skuld told her sharply. "From the Latin 'uh' meaning 'scr' and the ancient Sumerian word 'oh' which translates to 'ewed!'"

Urd pulled the rifle out of her sister's hands and found what the problem was. "Uh oh," she said.

The older goddess lowered the rifle. "We need to get to Belldandy."

"Why? She's already seen them together. She knows."

"Yeah," Urd said, scanning the floor for her sister. "But Belldandy has this thing where she gets jealous and stuff starts to explode."

Skuld winced. "That might become an issue."

888

Belldandy forced herself to watch. She had to be sure. That woman could be anyone, after all. A friend from school, a cousin. It didn't mean anything unless...

She saw them start to lean in for a kiss and shut her eyes.

"Excuse me, Miss, would you like to dance?" a man standing next to her asked.

Sobbing hysterically, Belldandy ran off.

888

"Stop," he whispered.

Kasumi's eyes flew open, their lips barely inches apart.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "But I can't yet."

She eased back, feeling rather foolish. "I see," she told him.

"No, you don't," he replied. "It's not you, you're great. I just..."

That troubled look crossed his eyes again. "Do you want to go somewhere and talk?" she asked. He gave her a skeptical look. "You might feel better," she said.

He shook his head and chuckled tiredly. "Sure," he said.

888

"Belldandy?" Urd called as she entered the bathroom.

Skuld followed a moment later. "I thought you said there'd be explosions? I didn't hear any explosions."

"Hush for a moment, okay?" Urd demanded. Skuld stuck her tongue out at her sister, but remained silent. Urd had a good idea about what had happened, and was vindicated a moment later when she heard sniffling from one of the far stalls.

The goddesses approached and found the door slightly ajar. Slowly opening it, Urd looked down at the occupant in pity.

Belldandy was sobbing into her hands, her satin gloves practically soaked with tears and mucus.

"Belldandy," Urd said quietly. "Hey, it'll be okay." The words sounded hollow, even to Urd. She reached out and hugged her sister, patting her back.

"What's she doing here?" Skuld asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the scene.

Urd looked back at her. "She's stunned. It's affected her so much she couldn't summon enough of her power to transport herself home."

"Oneesama," Skuld whispered.

"He's given up on me," Belldandy whispered through her sobs.

"You don't know that yet," Urd reassured her quietly.

"I shouldn't have left." Belldandy looked up into Urd's eyes, and it was the most heartwrenching thing the older goddess had ever seen.

"Skuld, help me get her up."

888

"You're going to think I'm crazy," Keiichi told her as they walked down the well-lit street. The street was crowded enough, with all the outdoor restaurants and boutiques, but offered them enough privacy to speak.

"Anyone who rides a motorcycle two hundred miles per hour for a piece of plastic is crazy, Keiichi san," Kasumi told him point blank. "What's left to lose?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. That's what Megumi says, anyway."

She regarded him carefully for several moments. "I don't know you very well, Keiichi san," she said. "But I know enough to know you're hurting. Megumi hinted that you were... shy."

"Look, I don't do this very often, but like you said, what's left to lose?" Keiichi said, stopping and turning to her. "I find you very attractive. But..."

"You're in love with somebody else," she concluded.

"It's not that simple," he said, starting to walk again. "I was in love with someone very special. Eight years ago, she had to leave. And I just haven't been able to... connect with anyone since then."

"Eight YEARS?" she asked.

"I told you you'd think I was crazy."

"Wait a second!" She stopped and forced him to face her. "You've carried a torch for this woman for eight years?"

She tried not to press too hard. The topic was obviously a touchy one with him. He nodded.

"Yeah," he said.

"Does she know?"

"I don't know," he said. "I haven't seen or heard from her since then."

"She must have really been something," she allowed.

He only nodded.

"I don't think you're crazy, Keiichi san," she said as she started to walk again. "I think it's romantic and sweet. Most MARRIED men wouldn't be able to hold out eight years, especially without seeing or talking to their wives." Her tone was wistful, but Keiichi still caught a hint of acid in what she said.

"Sounds like you know from experience," he said.

She regarded him for several moments before deciding how to answer him. "I was engaged for awhile, to a soldier in the JSDF. While he was deployed he..." Her face twisted in angry embarrassment. "He slept with another officer. He was gone less than a month." Her tone turned bitter. "What happens on deployment, stays on deployment, they say."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have pried."

She shrugged. "I'm prying into your life, you're entitled. I'm just sorry that your fidelity is rewarded so poorly."

"Megumi thinks I'm insane," he told her. "Not in the playful, 'you're nuts,' kind of way. She really thinks there's something wrong with me."

Kasumi thought on this for several moments. "I think it depends," she said. "If you really believe this woman is going to return to you, then you're not crazy for waiting. If you don't, and you're just waiting because you're afraid to try, then maybe you are."

She stopped and turned to him. "I also think you're being unfair to her."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe you're strong enough to wait for her, but that's putting a lot on her, especially after eight years." The teacher took his arm. "Let me ask you this: If she knew after say a year, that she would never be able to see you again, would you want her to move on with her life?"

"Of course," he said. "I couldn't ask her to wait forever."

"Then what makes you think she would want YOU to?"

He didn't have an answer. He knew Belldandy well enough to know what she would say. It didn't matter to him. He promised to wait.

_It's not fair,_ he thought. He knew that was true as well. Megumi was right about one thing. He hadn't pictured himself alone when he hit thirty. He did want a family, but he wanted it with Belldandy.

_Assuming she ever wanted that to begin with_.

That thought was becoming more and more frequent as well. Their relationship was never concrete, and he saw that as his fault. He had never probed Belldandy about her feelings, just told himself what he wanted to hear.

He looked over at Kasumi, simultaneously loving and hating what she represented. If he let himself get carried away, he could see a family portrait with her and two children in it and know he would be perfectly content with that. At the same time, he knew that picture could only be taken by breaking his promise to the only woman he had ever loved.

_So far..._ he heard Megumi's voice correct him.

Together, they continued walking into the night.

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Here's part 2. I don't own AMG.

_**Patiently: Part 2**_

"This is not a catastrophe," Urd told her firmly as she paced back and forth in front of the table Belldandy was sitting at, staring into her soup.

"No, it's not," Belldandy told her.

The older goddess breathed a sigh of relief. Despite what some would claim to the contrary, she wanted most of all for her sister to be happy, and she knew Keiichi made her happy.

"He's happy," Belldandy told her quietly. "That is enough for me. He should be happy."

"No, that's NOT enough for you!" Urd shot back with some heat. "How do you know he's happy? You said yourself you didn't stick around for the kiss."

Belldandy winced and looked away. She couldn't bear to think of it.

"So let's review," Urd said, ticking off points on her fingers. "One, no confirmed kiss. Two, you still haven't spoken to him, so you have no idea what he wants. Three, even if she IS his girlfriend, HE is the one who decides that."

Belldandy's eyes went wide. "Neesan... Are you suggesting I try to... to... STEAL Keiichi away from a woman who is probably perfectly nice and loves him very much?"

Urd placed her hands on her sister's shoulders. "I'm suggesting you fight for your man."

She shook her head slowly. "Neesan, that's..."

"Look, Belldandy, I understand where you're coming from. You want Keiichi to be happy, and you don't want to make someone else unhappy. But you know what, you're making yourself unhappy, and that is just as bad. This isn't going to end pretty. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to cry. I do NOT want that someone to be you."

Belldandy looked down at her feet.

"Do you love him?" Urd asked.

"Neesan..."

"Do you love Keiichi Morisato?" Urd asked again.

Belldandy looked up at her, tears in her eyes. "Yes," she breathed.

"Then you're going to have to fight," Urd told her.

"Oneesama," Skuld broke in quietly. "I don't want you to stay here. I miss you. But I know you weren't happy the last two weeks. Even in Heaven, your thoughts were here. I want to see you smile again, and if that means I have to drag that boy here myself, well that's just what I'll have to do."

Belldandy sniffled and wiped a tear away. "Oh, Skuld!"

"You have to fight, Oneesama," Skuld told her. "A girlfriend, a demon, what's the difference? Both would take him away from you."

Belldandy looked back to Urd. The older goddess nodded. "Let's show this bitch how we do things downtown."

"Um...Neesan... I really don't want to hurt her."

888

"Shut it down," Megumi ordered into her headset.

Down in the maintenance bay, the Wind Goddess' whine trailed off into nothing as the driver replied into the mic in his helmet. "Roger, parking brake engaged, throttling down to 'safe.'" Keiichi ripped off his helmet and threw an enraged look at Megumi.

"Three fucking aborts, Megumi?!"

"I'm telling you!" she shot back angrily. "There's a crack somewhere in the line! You go out on the track like that, the system will breach and you'll seize it!"

"BullSHIT!" he bit back, getting off the bike. "Mishima's NDI guys have been over that system three times! There's no fracture!"

"What the hell is the matter with you!?" she cried. "This isn't that crappy little Beemer of yours! You seize this thing at 200 miles per hour, and you're going to die! No ifs', ands', or buts'!"

He unzipped the top half of his race suit and stormed off toward the locker room. "Let me know when racing gets safer!" he shot back.

"Kei chan! Wait up!" She ran after him, finally catching up with him in the locker room. A few of the other race team drivers were changing and quickly covered themselves. "What is wrong with you today?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Things didn't go well with Kasumi, huh?"

"Things were fine with Kasumi," he muttered. "She's a nice girl, and I'm sure she's awesome, but..."

"You told her about Belldandy, didn't you?" Megumi accused him. "God DAMMIT, Kei chan!"

She noticed the other racers were still there. "What the hell are you looking at?!" she shouted at them.

The other men quickly grabbed their clothes and left. Keiichi opened his locker and punched the one next to it.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked her. "You were right! You were right about all of it!"

Megumi sighed. "Kei chan..."

"I look at Kasumi, and I wonder what my life might have been like if things had been different," he told her. "I was up all last night thinking about it. 'What if Belldandy hadn't left?' 'What if I had just broken it off right there?' And then I thought, 'What if I had never met her at all?'" He turned to face her. "If I had met a girl like Kasumi five years ago, who knows what might have been different?"

She sat down on the bench next to him. "Finally ready to talk, huh?" she asked with a sheepish smile.

He didn't respond, just shook his head and stared at his locker. "You were right. This isn't where I wanted to be. I must be nuts. I'm a professional racer, I'm rich, I'm famous..." He looked down at her. "And I hate my life."

"Kei chan!" She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Come on."

"You know what I thought a perfect life would be?" he asked her. "An average size house, a wife and two kids, a boy and a girl, and a job where I come home at five every day and go for a spin in the Beemer. That's my dream. That's my idea of Heaven."

She squeezed him again. "Then go get it," she told him. "Kei chan, you've done enough. You can stop now."

He shook his head. "I told her I'd wait."

She shot to her feet and slapped one of the lockers. "Dammit, Kei chan!"

He sighed, and it was at that moment Megumi knew that even he didn't believe it anymore.

"Kei chan," she whispered.

"I'm calling it a day," he said, rising to his feet. "Tell Chihiro I'll be in... I don't know, later."

8888

Chihiro wasn't pleased with Keiichi walking out. They were supposed to be in Osaka in two days for the race, but Megumi told her it was just nerves and he would be fine.

On her way down to the maintenance bay, she came up short as she saw Sayoko leaning against the wall, a binder in her hand and a cat-like smile on her face.

"What?" Megumi asked.

The Mishima heir held up the binder. "She signed in... and left an address."

It took a moment for Megumi to connect the dots. "Gimme!" she demanded, taking the binder away from Sayoko and flipping to the marked page. "You have to be kidding me," she whispered, looking down at the address.

"What?"

Megumi turned to look at her. "She's back at the temple."

"Where she and Keiichi kun used to live?"

The crew chief nodded.

"Well," Sayoko said in a sing-song voice. "That should make it much easier to find!"

"I'm going to go talk to her."

"Great, let's go."

"No," Megumi told her. "I need another favor from you."

Sayoko arched an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "He doesn't want to talk to me, but I'm worried about him. He stormed out of here, and I have no idea where he's going to end up tonight. I don't suppose you could keep an eye on him?"

The executive waved the request aside. "Of course! I'll just track him with the chip our scientists put in his head!"

"Ehhhhh?!"

"Just kidding! Honestly!" Sayoko said with a grin. "But there are ways to find him."

"Thanks," Megumi said. "I just hope he isn't off doing something stupid."

888

Keiichi took a swig of beer and pulled the mic closer to him. "This is the greatest and best song in the world," he announced. "Long time ago, me and my brother Kyle here... We was hitchiking down a long and lonesome road... All of a sudden... there shined a shiny demon... in the middle... of the road... AND HE SAID..."

His voice turned nasally and evil-sounding. "Plaaaaay the best sooooong in the world... Or I'll eat your souls..."

"Well me and Kyle... we looked at each other... and we each said...OKAY! And we played the first thing that came to our heads... just so happened to be... the best song in the world, it was the best song in the world..."

Sayoko shook her head and sighed as she entered the bar. At least it didn't take long to find him. She walked over to the bar and found Akio wiping a glass down.

"Please tell me he's been playing something, anything, from another band?" she asked.

"Another band?" Akio hmph'd. "This is the seventh time he's sung that song!" He shook his head.

"... He asked us... Be you angels?... and we said nay... WE ARE BUT MEN! ROCK!"

"Look, Mishima sama, I know he's a friend of yours, but he's severely straining the karaoke policy..."

"Okay, I'll get him," she said. "Beer me."

She took a cold one from Akio and walked up to the stage, placing her drink on an empty table and clapping as the song ended and grabbing the driver's arm. "Come on, cowboy, let's go."

"Sayoko san, what brings you around?" he asked, only a little tipsy.

"Keiichi kun, I know every bartender from here to Chiiba City," she told him. "All it takes is a text message that says, 'K1?' and I knew where you were."

He shrugged and sat down, stealing her beer in the process. "Megumi send you?"

She shrugged noncommitally. "She's worried about you. After hearing you sing, I can see why."

He shrugged again. "I just needed some time to think."

"Really?" she asked, tossing her hair. "What about?"

He brought the beer to his lips, but she stole it back before he could drink. "Ah, I ... you know."

"Come on, Keiichi kun," she pressed. "We've been friends for a long time, right?"

That was debatable but close enough to the truth. "I'm starting to think my life is a sham."

"How so?"

"I mean... Do you ever look at your life and say, 'this isn't how it's supposed to be?'"

"You have a great life!" Sayoko told him. "Money, fame... You get to race motorcycles every day! What more can you possibly want?"

"Yeah, those things are good," he said. "But... I don't know anymore. I think I was using them to replace something else, something I couldn't have, and now... Now I look back and I realize that all that stuff is great, but it still can't replace..."

He trailed off.

Sayoko looked down at her drink. "You need a woman, Keiichi kun," she said bluntly before looking up at him. "Even if for only ten minutes."

"Ehhh?!"

"Oh, come on," she chided him. "I knew you back in college, remember? You didn't give a rat's ass about money or fame, and it used to bother the hell out of me. Now here you sit, complaining about that ONE thing you don't have, and I'm supposed to be clueless? Hell, you're practically famous for living like a monk."

He groaned and pressed his palms into his eyes. "Am I really coming off that desperate?"

"You're coming off lonely, not desperate," she said. "If you were desperate, you'd be making passes at the barflies, any one of whom, I might add, would gladly sleep with you." She reached out and took his hand and spoke softly. "Men were not designed to be alone. It's wrong on a fundamental level for a man to cut himself off from..." She rubbed his palm with her thumb.

He slowly pulled his hand away.

She noticed his discomfiture and gave him a break. "You're a good man, Keiichi kun," she said. She chuckled under her breath. "You know, back in college, girls like me didn't give guys like you much of a thought, but you're right, everyone looks back and wonders what things might have been like. A lot of times, I think about the day you and I first met and I think, 'I should have just gone to the damn museum.'"

He didn't say anything.

"Look," Sayoko said, "You need a ride?"

The driver shook his head. "No, I'm good," he said. "I still have some thinking to do."

She stood up. "You think too hard sometimes, Keiichi kun. Sometimes, you just have to act." She looked down at him for a moment. "Megumi's worried. You're not going to go pop pills or anything are you?"

He shook his head and actually smiled.

"Good," she said. "I have too much money invested in you." She rested a hand on his shoulder. "If you need anything..."

"Thanks, Sayoko. I'll be okay."

888

Megumi took a deep breath as she faced the temple's front door, trying to find the right words to say to make Belldandy understand the implications of what she had done. She liked Belldandy, everyone had. But what she did...

The crew chief had spent the last eight years watching her brother drift further and further away from his real dreams. At first, she thought it was something he would get over with time. Now...

Now she knew he was on the ragged edge as a result of that damn promise.

How was she going to make her see?

She knocked twice and waited. A few moments later, an aging priest opened the door.

"Can I help you, young lady?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied nervously. "I'm looking for Belldandy. Is she here?"

The priest nodded. "Ah, one moment." The door closed for a moment, and when it reopened it was with a force powered by genuine excitement.

Belldandy stood there, looking no more than a day older than the last time Megumi saw her.

"Megumi san!" she cried excitedly. "I'm so..."

The crack made by Megumi's knuckles impacting the goddess' jaw could be heard throughout the temple. Knocked back on her butt, Belldandy's trembling hand went to the left side of her mouth. She looked up at the other woman in total shock. A moment later, Urd and Skuld were rushing up behind her.

Megumi swallowed and nodded down at her. "I owed you that one," she said quietly, breathing hard. All thoughts of a civilized conversation had evaporated. "For what you did to him."

Belldandy's jaw dropped in silent shock.

"HEY!" Skuld cried, reaching into her shirt for a Skuld bomb.

"It's all right," Belldandy told her. "She's right."

Megumi shook her head and bit her lip. "Do you have any idea?" she hissed. "Any idea at all?!"

Belldandy's eyes teared over.

"You BROKE him," Megumi hissed. "You ruined him for any other woman who wanted to make him happy, who wanted to take your place! He gave up eight years of his life that he will never get back in the vain hope that you would suddenly appear one day on the doorstep like nothing happened! It took me EIGHT YEARS to even get him to consider the POSSIBILITY that he can be happy with someone else!"

A tear ran down the goddess' face, but she didn't reply.

"EIGHT YEARS!" Megumi screamed at her, tears running down her own face.

"And now...NOW... that I have FINALLY gotten him to see some semblance of reason, YOU show up again?" She shook her head. "Why? What's left? How much lower can you bring him?!"

Megumi turned away, her hand running through her hair as she cried. Finally, collecting what was left of her rationality, she turned back to the goddesses. "Stay away from him," she told Belldandy. "If you ever cared for him all, even the slightest bit, stay away and let him live his life."

Without another word, the mortal woman turned on her heel and stormed off.

Urd looked down at Belldandy. "Are you just going to let her go?! She knows where Keiichi is!"

"Hai, she does," Belldandy whispered. She stood up, turned and went back into the house.

"Belldandy!"

The goddess didn't turn, didn't reply. Instead, she continued walking until she got to the room the priest was letting her occupy. Closing the door behind her, she quietly fell to her knees and tried vainly to choke back a sob.

"Is it true?" she asked herself. "Is that what I've done?"

She ignored the sound of Urd pounding on her door, instead turning inward and letting her pain consume her.

888

He woke on his back with blades of grass tickling the back of his ears. His eyes opened to the sight of stars, a view that was, at once, so common and yet so disquietingly familiar. He sat up and felt the bottle roll from his numb fingers.

"I'm so drunk," he noted to himself with a slurred chuckle. Opening his eyes wider, he finally recognized where he was. It seemed that after Sayoko had left, he had stumbled out of the bar and tried to walk home.

'Home,' however, was relative.

The sight of the old Auto Club shack and the shell of an old car beside it filled his vision.

"_Can't you sleep?"_ _he asked her._

"_No," she had told him with a smile. "When I think that you and I are going to share as many wonderful moments as there are stars in the sky, I get so excited!"_

He stared at the car where they had spent their first night together counting sheep. Every moment of that first night was etched into his memory, how Fate itself refused to let them part, even temporarily.

"_I'll wait for you..."_

He cried out in frustration, stumbling forward at the same time and colliding with the rusted out vehicle. He turned and leaned his back against it, facing those very same stars.

Goddess, why did he make that promise?

_Because you were in love with her._

"'Were?' or 'Am?'" he muttered in reply.

_You tell me._

"Screw off," he slurred drunkenly. "Why should I listen to you? You're the one that got me into this mess to start with!"

_Right, _I'm_ the one that made a promise to a woman I had known less than a year to wait faithfully forever_ _even after she told me it could be years, decades or centuries before she could come back._

Keiichi kicked the car and had the satisfaction of watching the bumper fall off.

_Um... You do realize you're talking to yourself and not a magical rusted out car, right?_

"Fuck off, asshole!" he said with another drunken kick, but this one missed and he stumbled, falling on his butt.

He sat there for several moments, looking up at the stars.

"You know the worst part, magical talking car?" he slurred.

_Sigh... No, tell me._

"The worst part is," he began again slowly, "Is that even if I married someone else... had kids with someone else... I'd still be in love with her... You ever see that movie with that guy who was stranded on that island?"

_Gilligan's Island?_

"No, the one with that other guy... Anyway, at the end, the guy goes home and he finds out that his fiancé got married while he was gone and had a kid. And you know what? She offered to leave her husband and her damn KID and run away with him..."

The voice didn't reply.

"And if it happened to me," he went on, "I can't say for certain what I would do in her place. That's why I can't move on. Because I couldn't bring that kind of pain to someone I care about."

_That's a bummer._

"Yeah, isn't it?"

_So what are you going to do?_

"I'm going to pass out for a bit."

With that, Keiichi Morisato collapsed against the car and started snoring.

888

"You look like hell," Megumi noted as Keiichi climbed into the semi-truck's cab next to her. Dark lines ringed the driver's bloodshot eyes and his hair was disheveled. "You get into a fight or something?"

"No," he muttered, looking at her and noticing something off about her as well. "Did you?"

"No," she said dryly as Keiichi started the truck. Sitting snug and secure in the trailer behind them, the Wind Goddess awaited her destiny in Osaka.

Her "conversation" with Belldandy came back to her, and she shot her brother anxious looks, feeling guilty about what she had done and what she refused to do by not telling him. She mustered up a smile and tried to inject some enthusiasm into the oppressive truck cab.

"OSAKA!" she screamed, throwing her hands into the air.

"Yeah, Osaka," he replied, turning the truck onto the main road.

"Come on!" she cried. "Let's see some excitement! THE big race!"

He shifted gears and didn't turn to her. "It's just another race, Megumi."

His tone worried her. He had been depressed lately, yeah, but this race was supposed to be the Mt. Everest of his career as a racer.

"Aren't you nervous?" she asked. "Excited?"

"Do you believe in destiny?" he asked her suddenly.

She knew to tread carefully here given what he'd been through the last few days. "I know we make our own," she told him. "If you're asking if I believe there's an almighty force out there that controls our future... then no."

The crew chief could see where he was going with this. "'Destiny' had nothing to do with where you are now," she told him. "It was all you."

"Yeah," he said quietly. "It was all me. I'm here because of the decisions I made. Belldandy used to say that everything happens for a reason..."

"Kei chan..."

"I think there's a reason I'm feeling, realizing all these things _now_," he said. "I think this is where I'm supposed to meet my destiny."

She watched him carefully the entire ride to Osaka.

888

"This is ridiculous!" Sayoko cried, slamming her hands down on the old metal desk in their temporary garage at the Osaka Arena. Chihiro sat behind that desk with Megumi standing off to the side. "The race is tonight!"

"Megumi," Chihiro began, sounding reluctant to even sound like she was agreeing with Sayoko. "Everyone's worked very hard to get here."

"I know," Megumi told them both. "But I think..."

_Go on, tell them. Tell them that you think your brother is suicidal. Tell them to pull him out of the race because you're afraid he's going to scatter that bike all over the asphalt. You know perfectly well the story would get out to the world inside ten minutes and everything he's worked for will go right down the shitter!_

She bit her lip. The other two women waited for her to answer.

"I have concerns about the bike," she semi-lied.

Sayoko arched an eyebrow at her. "I was told the SX-3 was working perfectly."

"There have been some issues," Chihiro explained. "Some aborts, but nothing serious."

"I just don't think we should race if there's a doubt," Megumi told them.

"Chihiro?" Sayoko asked, turning to the team manager. "Do you think the risks are high enough to cancel the race and lose the one-point-seven BILLION yen we stand to gain from everything from concessions to advertising?"

"If it puts Morisato kun in danger, then yes," Chihiro told her.

"If it's Morisato-kun's skin on the line," Sayoko said, "Then it should be Morisato kun who makes the final call. If he says he doesn't feel safe, we'll pull out."

"Sayoko," Megumi began, but Chihiro silenced her with a raised hand.

"Mishima san is right," she said. "Morisato kun is a racer. It's his life we're dealing with, and only he can assess the risks."

Sayoko grinned.

888

"What is your problem?" Sayoko asked as she followed Megumi out the door.

Megumi looked down the hall for anyone who might be listening before answering. "You know how screwed up he is right now," she whispered. "He's riding the ragged edge and you're pushing him over it!"

"I'm doing no such thing," Sayoko told her. "I'm choosing not to baby him. He's an adult, and he can make his own decisions without his sister looking out for him. It's you who's trying to make his life's decisions for him."

"What?!" Megumi hissed.

Sayoko grinned devilishly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Who pushed him into the arms of that schoolteacher? Who is keeping you-know-who from reaching him? Who is trying to prevent him from running the race of his life?"

Megumi swallowed nervously as the sad and sorry truth crashed down on her.

"Maybe Keiichi kun has made some bad choices," she went on. "But those were HIS choices to make. And while I'm willing to support keeping those two apart for purely self-motivated reasons, even I know how wrong it would be to take this away from him. Racing motorcycles is his first, best destiny. Anything else... is a waste."

With that, the vice president turned and walked off...

Leaving Megumi with a lot to think about.

888

"So what do we do now?" Skuld asked, resting her chin in her hands and her elbows on the dining room table.

Sitting across from her, Urd shook her head. Belldandy hadn't come out of her room since Megumi left the day before.

"I don't know," the love goddess admitted.

"We could snatch him ourselves," Skuld suggested. "Tie him up, bring him here, and toss him to the ground at Oneesama's feet."

"It's a tempting idea," Urd admitted. "But part of the problem is Belldandy. If she's not willing to go after him herself then gift wrapping him and delivering him to her isn't going to solve the underlying problem."

Their conversation was interrupted by the goddess herself entering the room and taking a seat between them.

"Oneesama?" Skuld asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

Belldandy cleared her throat. "I'm fine," she announced.

Urd shared a look with Skuld. "That's good," she said noncommitedly. "We were just talking about our next move."

"I already know our next move," Belldandy declared. "He's racing in Osaka tonight."

"That's right!" Skuld cried. "We can just go there and..."

"So," Belldandy continued. "We are going to watch the race on TV, bear witness to his accomplishments... and then leave."

"What?" Urd asked quietly. "Belldandy..."

"My purpose here," the middle Norn snapped suddenly, tears in her eyes, "Was to bring him happiness. And if my presence can't bring him that, then perhaps my absence will."

"You can't possibly think that," Urd told her, shaking her head.

Belldandy looked her sister sternly in the eye. "Look at what's happened," she said. "Now imagine if he and I had never met. Can you really say it wouldn't be better?"

"Can you?" Urd shot back. "It's more than Keiichi's happiness we're talking about."

"He would quite possibly have a family, children, happiness..." Belldandy argued. "My presence may have irrevocably altered his destiny!"

"His destiny was to be with you!" Urd countered angrily. "Now something went wrong somewhere down the line, yes! But there is a REASON he waited this long! There is a REASON you fought so hard to come back! The two of you apart is wrong on a fundamental level! THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!"

"No," Belldandy replied quietly but firmly. "And I know that now." She looked away for a moment before turning back. "Neesan, I appreciate the support you've always given us, but... destiny or not... it's time to stop." Urd looked ready to argue again, but Belldandy jumped in first. "I can live the rest of eternity alone and unhappy if it means he can be content. My job was to bring him happiness, and if my leaving can bring that to him... then it's time to go."

Without another word, Belldandy walked out of the room.

Urd sputtered, not sure what to say. Skuld, silent until now, decided to make things worse.

"Maybe... maybe she's right."

"She's not right!" Urd shot at her. The older goddess slapped the table in frustration.

"Why are you so upset about this?" Skuld asked her. "It's not your life, ya know!"

"No, it's not. It's Belldandy's," Urd told her. "And the problem with Belldandy is that she doesn't think about HER life! She thinks about everyone in Creation but herself." She turned to Skuld and her face and voice softened. "Sometimes, Skuld, living for others simply isn't enough."

888

Kasumi looked into a third office, and not finding what she was looking for, continued on. The pit pass Megumi had given her had let her into the racer's area, but it didn't explain where anything was. More than thirty racers were competing in this race, and she had the distinct feeling she was going to end up meeting them all before she found Megumi.

As if to deliberately contradict this last thought, her friend turned the corner ahead of her.

"Megumi! There you are!" she called out.

The crew chief caught sight of her and ran up to her like a woman on a mission. "Kasumi, thank God! I need a favor!" she said without preamble.

"Um... sure. What?" the teacher asked quizzically.

"Did you drive?"

"Yeah, I had to. I missed the bullet train. Why?"

"I need your car," Megumi told her.

Kasumi rummaged through her purse and found her keys. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Nekomi."

"What?! Why?!"

"There's just something I have to do," Megumi told her, her voice tinged with self-reproach.

"But the race! You'll never make it back in time!"

"I know, but... Look, I'll bring it back as soon as I can."

Kasumi handed her the keys. "Is everything all right?"

Megumi paused as if unsure of what to say. Finally, she just started for the exit.

"Megumi!"

888

Sitting with his back against the concrete wall, he stared at it, his Wind Goddess. The bike was sitting in its maintenance rack, waiting to be set free and allowed to run to its heart's content.

Keiichi laced his fingers together as he looked at it. It was more than a motorcycle. When Chihiro had first approached him, then a promising young student who spent far too much time with bikes, he wasn't sure what kind of bike he could design. Officially, it started as an Auto Club project, just fooling around to see what they could come up with. In truth, it was him.

While his peers partied on the weekends, he worked on solving the oil flow problem.

When the Auto Club took its yearly excursion to the mountains, he stayed behind and worked with the Electronics Club on the onboard interface.

When Otaki got married, he stood by his friend in front of the priest, kissed the bride, had a drink and went back to work.

"When did you become my whole life?" he asked it. "Why did I let that happen?"

What else was he going to do with his time? He was waiting.

"Keiichi san?"

It sounded so much like her it made him jump. Turning his head quickly, his expression fell. Kasumi's head had poked in through the door.

"Oh, hey," he said, rising to his feet.

She entered the maintenance bay and smiled at him. "I'm glad I finally found you. This place is a maze."

He forced a smile, but it wasn't hard. "Yeah, it's pretty big."

"You know you already have fans out there?" she asked.

"Yeah, race fans show up early and tailgate in the parking lot," he said. He paused. "I... didn't expect to see you here," he confessed.

"Yes, well, Megumi said I haven't lived until I've seen a race live." She paused herself for a moment. "And I wanted to cheer you on."

"Thank you," he told her, his smile a genuine one for the first time.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he told her.

Another uncomfortable pause followed. Finally, she said what she wanted to say. "Look, Keiichi san... You're a good man. I really hope one day that she comes back... and that she's worth it." Leaning up she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "For luck."

She turned to go.

"Kasumi san," he called after her. She turned at the door.

He smiled. "You're a wonderful woman. And if your fiancé couldn't see that, then you're better off without him."

She smiled. "I know." Turning, she left.

Just as she was leaving, Hasegawa came in. "Keiichi, Chihiro san says it's time to suit up."

888

"Megumi usually does this," he told her.

Kneeling in front of as he sat on the locker room bench, Chihiro fitted the locking collar onto his neck.

"She left," Chihiro told him. "Some kind of emergency."

"Oh," he replied. Standing off to the side, Hasegawa held his helmet.

She took his shoulders in her hands. "You good?" she asked.

He flexed his gloved hands. "Yeah," he said quietly.

She nodded. "Remember, you're not racing those souped up crotch rockets this time. These guys have backing. Hell, even Aoshima is here. His company is fielding a bike he swears will take the Lady down a peg. One hundred percent effort, maximum performance. And don't take any stupid risks. You see a red light, you come in. Got it?"

He nodded.

"Okay," she said. "It's time."

888

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Osaka Speedway where the Seventh Annual Osaka Championship Race will determine who is the fastest person alive. I'm Tetsuo Yanagida," the announcer declared.

"And I'm Tricia Takanawa, Channel 3 News," the woman sitting next to him announced. "Here with us during the pre-race show is..."

Urd tuned out the announcers and waited for something to happen. For a sport that emphasized speed, so far this race was as boring as watching Belldandy hang laundry.

Finally they cut away from the announcers, but only to show the pre-race theatrics. She saw one race team introduce their driver and bike with a Broadway style chorus line, the fans cheering them on. Another team had a more hip-hop intro. She shook her head. People were taking this stuff way too seriously.

Urd looked over her shoulder at Belldandy and found her sister watching the television intently.

"It's not too late," Urd told her. "You can be there in a few seconds."

"It's him," she whispered, ignoring her suggestion.

Urd turned back and found one driver approaching a blue bike followed by a short, young woman who was holding his helmet. A loud rock song played in the background, pumping up the crowd, many of whom were holding signs that read, "K-1."

The cameras zoomed in on the racer as he swung his leg over the bike and mounted it. Belldandy took in the sight of him, his lined and older face.

_He looks so sad..._

She recognized the woman who was placing the helmet on his head and latching it to the collar on his race suit. When Hasegawa stepped away, she got a good look at that helmet.

"Oneesama, look at the symbol on his helmet," Skuld said quietly. "It's your earring."

Urd turned and found her sister shaking at the sight.

"You cannot even CONSIDER leaving now!" Urd told her.

Before Belldandy could argue, there was a knock at the door.

888

Keiichi let Hasegawa place the helmet over his head and carefully lock it in place. Once she stepped away, he reached down and keyed in the start-up sequence on the Wind Goddess' handlebar keypad. Reaching up, he tapped the button on the side of his helmet and saw the HUD come down before his eyes. Green lettering spelled out each step of the start-up sequence. Everything was green...

Except one thing.

LUBRICATION SYSTEM: 84 PERCENT

He chewed on that for a moment. The datalink to Chihiro in the pit wasn't on yet. He leaned down and slammed his fist against the right side of the polymer case that housed the engine block.

The readout turned green.

LUBRICATION SYSTEM: 99 PERCENT

He looked over at the pit and found Chihiro going over something with the pit crew. So far, so good.

"Okay," he whispered to the motorcycle. "Let's get it over with."

888

"Megumi san," Belldandy whispered as the mortal woman entered the room.

Urd crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. "Here to finish her off?"

Megumi swallowed and fell to her knees, bowing so low her forehead touched the ground. "Gomen nasai," she said meaningfully, refusing to raise her gaze. "I made a horrible mistake."

888

Hasegawa stood in front of the SX-3 and crossed her arms above her head. Marshaling the motorcycle out of the maintenance bay like a billion-dollar aircraft, she watched Keiichi pull out slowly and gave a quick salute.

The crowd watched as the Wind Goddess rolled slowly, almost cautiously across the track with a sense of silent awe. Suddenly, Keiichi threw the throttle open and popped the front wheel up, the bike squealing down the track alongside the seating area. The crowd went wild.

Tires screeching, he whipped the bike around to his place on the starting line.

From the first class box, Sayoko watched and lifted a glass of wine to her lips. "Go get some, Tiger."

888

"Hey, look! It's starting!" Skuld interrupted, pointing at the TV.

Everyone's eyes turned to the television.

"And the Seventh Annual Osaka Championships have begun!" Tricia Takanawa announced as the motorcycles hurtled down the track at beyond breakneck speeds. Belldandy's eyes caught Keiichi, and she smiled just a little.

_Out front, as always..._

"Morisato san's 'Wind Goddess' has taken an immediate lead!" the announcer declared. "But the Aoshima-designed A-555 'Triple Nickel' is hot on his heels."

"Indeed, Tetsuo san. Aoshima san has promised the Triple Nickel would surpass the Wind Goddess' speed record in this race, and it would appear it has a good shot," Takanawa reported. "Interesting factoid, by the way, Morisato san and Aoshima san are old college rivals..."

"Well it looks like neither have forgotten it," Yanagida agreed. "I have never seen Morisato san drive so aggressively so early in a race..."

"Belldandy," Megumi began, raising her head. The goddess wouldn't turn her head from the television. "Belldandy, listen... I was wrong."

She didn't turn. Her eyes were glued to the image of Keiichi.

"She's not even listening," Megumi muttered.

"She's preoccupied," Urd told her as Megumi climbed to her feet.

The crew chief bit her lip. "Why did you come back?" she asked Urd point-blank.

The sudden question threw Urd for a loop. "Well... because we promised we would..."

"That simple?" Megumi asked.

"Well..."

Seeing that Belldandy seemed to be in no position to answer, Megumi addressed her sister. "Look, I meddled and I shouldn't have," she said. "Keiichi deserved to hear about you being here. But before I just step out of the way, I need to know why you came back. Why you didn't try to contact him."

"It's... complicated..." Urd told her.

"Simplify it," Megumi told her.

Belldandy, still not facing them, answered.

"I love him," she said quietly. She turned, and her gentle blue eyes locked onto Megumi's. "I love him, and I can't be without him. It doesn't get simpler than that..."

Megumi digested this answer while Urd piled on. "They're both in pain," she told her. "They're two sides of the same coin. One can't be complete without the other. You know it."

888

Keiichi increased his speed even further and checked the Triple Nickel's position in the HUD.

_Damn, this kid's good..._

"Keiichi kun, you're approaching the red line," he heard Chihiro's voice over the helmet radio. "You have to throttle back."

There were only a few more laps to go. "She'll hold together," he replied.

He pushed the throttle a bit more.

888

"It still doesn't explain why you never called, emailed, texted, wrote..." Megumi said. "There's more going on here..."

Urd and Belldandy shared a look. "Should we tell her?"

"Tell me what?"

Belldandy looked at the ground. "I couldn't stay," she said. "Megumi san, I'm..."

"AND MORISATO SAN COULD BE IN TROUBLE HERE!"

The goddess' head whipped around to the TV, her eyes going wide. Urd disappeared into the next room.

"Keiichi?!"

888

"Damn!" Chihiro clicked on her mic. "Keiichi! You have white smoke pouring out of your manifold!" She watched as the Wind Goddess streaked past, leaving a trail of thick white smoke in her wake. "Throttle back slowly and come into the pit."

She gritted her teeth in frustration at what this meant. "We'll get 'em next year," she said, the words sounding hollow even to her.

On the bike, Keiichi was still in the lead, but the HUD was screaming at him.

LUBRICANT FAILURE! COOLING SYSTEM FAILURE! SEIZURE WARNING!

He checked his oil pressure and found it falling slowly but steadily.

"Roger," he said woodenly into the radio.

Looking up, he saw the turn for the pit coming up fast. He checked the lap count. There were only two more to go. They'd never be able to patch the Goddess and get back in the race in time.

He checked his oil reading again.

_What's left to lose?_

"Screw it," he whispered.

He jammed the throttle forward as far as it would go.

In the pit, Chihiro's eyes went wide.

"He missed the turn! He missed the turn!" Hasegawa cried.

She keyed the mic. "Dammit, Keiichi kun! What are you doing?!"

With a click of his thumb, Keiichi's radio went silent, Chihiro's pleas for reason with it.

888

"I cannot believe it!" Yanagida cried on the TV. "Morisato san is going to try to win with severe damage to his bike!"

Megumi grabbed both sides of the TV and shook it. "YOU STUPID DAMN IDIOT!" she screamed at him. "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!?"

"Killed?!"

Megumi turned to Belldandy's horrified face and wished she hadn't said anything. Instead, all that was left now was the truth. "He's going to seize his engine, and at that speed and that much power, that bike is going to launch him through the air like a bullet!"

"We have to help him!" Belldandy told her urgently.

"Osaka's five hours from here!" Megumi argued.

Urd reappeared carrying the bathroom wall mirror, plaster still clinging to its back. "Not if you take the shortcut."

888

WARNING! SEIZURE IMMINENT! WARNING! SEIZURE IMMINENT!

Keiichi watched the pressure gauge declining faster now and the temperature graph rising too quickly for his comfort.

"Come on, girl, just one more lap and you can stop... I promise..."

888

No one was in the maintenance bay washroom. They were all outside watching Keiichi kill himself. As a result, no one saw Belldandy emerge from the mirror, dragging a screaming Megumi behind her. The goddess landed nimbly on her feet while the crew chief hit the concrete floor hard.

"Are you all right?" Belldandy asked.

Megumi jumped to her feet and brushed off the question. "Come on! You can explain that little trick later!" Running, she led Belldandy out the door and across the bay to the pit area.

The first thing they saw was Chihiro screaming into her microphone before throwing it to the ground. She caught sight of Megumi and pointed out onto the track. "Do you know what your idiot brother is doing right now?! He's turned his damn radio off!"

Otaki and Tamiya rubbed their eyes. "Belldandy?" Tamiya rumbled.

"What now?" Megumi asked. "With his radio off, we can't talk him down," Megumi said.

"That bike is going to seize on him in less than a minute," Hasegawa threw in.

They all watched as the two lead bikes sped by, the Wind Goddess belching smoke like a rocket.

She knew it was a longshot, but Megumi turned to Belldandy for a suggestion. She blinked when she saw she wasn't there. "Belldandy?"

The crew chief turned the other way and found Belldandy running past her and leaping into the air toward the track. There was a bright flash of light that caused them to look away for a moment and when they looked back...

They watched in awe as wings sprouted from Belldandy's back and the woman flew down the track after the racers.

"Dude," Tamiya rumbled.

Otaki nodded, then smiled. "Belldandy's back!"

888

"Something's happening down on the track," Yanagida announced. "It looks like some kind of bird is..."

He trailed off and turned his mic off. "Tricia... Is it just me or does that look like an angel?"

888

The finish line was coming up! Fifteen seconds! No more than that!

DISMOUNT!DISMOUNT!DISMOUNT!DISMOUNT!

The bike was so hot now it was practically glowing beneath him.

Ten seconds!

Several gauges on his HUD burst into static, unable to function in the extreme heat...

SEIZURE WARNING! COOLANT FAILURE!

Five seconds!

888

He was only a few feet from her outstretched hand. She stretched out, demanding more speed from her gentle white wings than they had ever been expected to give.

_Keiichi,_ she thought, _Just let me hold you and I swear I'll never let you go again!_

There was no other sound, just the wind...

She reached out...

888

Zero!

Suddenly, every moving part in the Wind Goddess stopped, and the bike's engine, unable to take the stress, flipped end over end, sending its driver hurtling through the air!

Pieces of the SX-3 tumbled down the track at more than two hundred miles per hour.

People in the crowd screamed.

He knew he must be dead. He could feel himself floating through the air...

888

The crowd went silent at what they saw down at the finish line.

Yanagida swallowed and with great effort, keyed his microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen... For those of you listening to this broadcast on the radio and are unable to see... It appears that Keiichi Morisato... has just been saved from a horrifying crash... by one of God's angels... literally..."

Belldandy's feet touched the asphalt and she knelt quickly, cradling the limp figure in her arms. Her wings wrapped around the two of them as she fumbled with the helmet's locking collar. Tears ran down her face as she gently pulled the helmet off him.

"Keiichi," she sobbed. The sound of sirens from approaching fire trucks and ambulances could be heard coming closer. Her fingers touched his cheek as she swallowed back more tears.

"Keiichi, please..."

Slowly, his eyes opened and found her.

"Keiichi?"

"What kept you?" he rasped quietly.

A laugh burst through her sobs, and she held him tightly to her chest.

"Keiichi!"

Finding his strength, he wrapped his arms around her.

Seeing this, the people in the stands began to applaud.

888

Clapping from her seat in the VIP box, Kasumi smiled and wiped a tear away.

"Really something, indeed," she whispered.

888

Sitting in front of the TV at the temple, Urd and Skuld watched the camera zoom in on Belldandy and her wings in all their glory as the ecstatic crowd of thousands applauded around them.

"So," Skuld began slowly. "Who's going to explain this one to the Almighty?"

Turning, she saw nothing but empty space where her sister was sitting a moment before.

"URD! I'M NOT TAKING THE HEAT FOR THIS ONE!"

888

_Two years later..._

The motorcycle flew by the observation stand, and the trainer stopped the clock as the bike slowed and turned around. Descending from the platform, he approached the driver, making a note on his clipboard.

"How'd I do?" Kentaro Sanonosuke asked, removing his helmet.

Keiichi held up the stopwatch. "You cut another half-second, but I still think you're braking too early in the turn."

"She's not exactly a forgiving machine," the driver, the same young man he faced at Osaka two years ago, told him. He patted the SX-4's handlebars. "If I'm not careful, she'll throw me off."

Keiichi looked down at the machine, the latest iteration of the Wing Goddess. Just because he retired from racing he wasn't giving up on his love for motorcycles.

He smiled and removed his baseball cap. "Not if you respect her, she won't."

The driver nodded. "One more time around?"

The older man checked his watch. "Nope. It's five o'clock."

"So?"

"Keiichi?"

He turned and found Belldandy waiting for him at the gate that led into the parking lot. She smiled brightly and waved at him.

Waving back, he turned back to the driver. "So... I'm going for a spin in the Beemer with my wife."

Kentaro smiled and shrugged. "Okay, Boss."

"See you tomorrow, bright and early," Keiichi told him as he started for the gate. Belldandy smiled as he approached.

"How was your day?" she asked. Leaning up, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

He gave her the same answer he always did. "Even better than yesterday. Ready to go?"

"Hai," the goddess replied. "But first I have to give these dinners to the late shift. It'll just take a moment."

Keiichi smiled and leaned forward, giving the goddess a soft kiss. "Go ahead," he told her.

"I can wait."

_The End_


End file.
